For You (Happy Birthday Orochimaru )
by ZeroCoolDemon
Summary: A simple cute one shot for orochimaru. Mostly focused on Kabuto and Orochimaru, their thoughts and short celebration.


Hey! Aside from the fact that its freezing cold—it's Orochimaru's Birthday today !? 0.0

I think I've been waiting for this day since I started Naruto. So let's delve in already.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto, neither the anime nor anything besides this one-shot.**

 **Anime: Naruto & Naruto Shippuden**

Slight Orochimaru x Kabuto (obviously!)

… **For You …**

 **(Happy Birthday Lord Orochimaru )**

Kabuto finally found the time to exit his gifted lab with a tray of food and medicine. He stepped through the halls passively, revising all contents of his tray with caution and accuracy before he stopped right in front of his lord's door. Inhaling a cool breath of air, he motioned the tray in one hand such that he was able to open the door with his other.

"Orochimaru-sam—" The silverette entered with much appreciation but those emotions died as quickly as they came when he recognized an empty bed. With a troubled sigh, the teen placed the tray on the side table and smoothed the ruffled bed sheets before dragging a stool to sit on. "Why?" He questioned no one in particular but had a clear image of Orochimaru in his mind. The teen locked his fingers together as they floated between the empty space of his knees. "Where did you go now—why won't you just forget about this already?" Kabuto clenched his fingers tighter, recalling Orochimaru's desperate quench to find Sasuke despite the condition the third Hokage put him in. "…Does he even remember what day it is today?"

There was nothing better to do underground in their dead village besides lab experiments, so Kabuto decided to simply wait for the other to return from wherever and let his mind wander in the meantime. In the past it was always Orochimaru-sama and himself—sure Kimimaro became a part of their little crew soon enough but he still never complained once.

 **Flashback** :

It was several days after Orochimaru had offered Kabuto his protection. The silverette was beginning to adjust to the ways of their isolated home mentally, however, physically he wasn't adapting to the environment so compatibly. Moreover, he wasn't sure whether it was the loss of his mother or change in atmosphere that made him lose his appetite. And _that_ was starting to grow on him. It wasn't until the eighth day that the teen collapsed with a fever—much to his surprise.

The next time he awoke, he was lying on a bed, a bit breathless and weak.

"Would you call it over-exhaustion?" A familiar cunning voice spoke from the side. The teen tilted his head to see Orochimaru standing over him with his arms crossed and his usual smirk plated on his pale face. The younger closed his eyes before opening them in an averted direction. "Kabuto-kun?"

"I'm sorry." Kabuto let out a low murmur ashamed of his incompetence.

"For what, shall I ask?" There was still a tone of humor in the elder's voice that could easily be mistaken as a taunt. The silverette mentally cursed.

"Do you really have to make me say it?"

Not quite following, Orochimaru stepped closer instead and mapped a hand on the other's silver head with the edges of his palm touching the burning forehead. "That's quite the long face, child." Kabuto, who was completely taken aback by that gesture immediately turned startled eyes towards the other. Albeit he did admit that even the slightest contact with the cool skin felt very blissful over his flaming forehead.

For a change, Kabuto freed his feelings of self-esteem and relaxed into the touch. "Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes?" The elder roamed his hand back and forth gently.

"Am I incompetent now?" The young teen mouthed innocently. He earned a laugh from the other in response.

"My, you have no confidence in yourself, almost like a lost rabbit." The raven haired male chuckled causing the other to blush unnoticeably. "If you were so incompetent, I would never have chosen you for this job." Orichimaru smirked, bringing his face closer and sliding his hand down to twist a strand of silver hair.

' _That first part was completely unnecessary though.'_ The teen thought.

"Rest. We don't want you collapsing again now, do we?" His lord straightened up and looked as though he was prepared to leave the room. ' _He is so eccentric and mysterious that one would rather keep a distance from him yet at the same time he's very lenient and_ _forgiving_ _.'_ Kabuto mused, watching the other step away. ' _…I wouldn't have mind if he stayed a bit longer though.'_ The silverette inwardly sighed hooding his eyes with the back of his hand. ' _A blatant room with no windows and a candle for a light source is pretty depressing.'_

"Scared to be left alone?" Orochimaru sneered, looking at him again.

" _No_."

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving, I only wanted to fetch this guy." He picked up a snake that had been crawling on the floor of room unbeknownst to the teen and let it crawl up to his shoulders. Kabuto only made a sour face at the snake acting intimately with the elder. That was one thing he couldn't get used to. "Now, chew on this unless you plan to lay bedridden forever." Orochimaru unveiled a funny looking shrub. The teen struggled to sit up and took it from the other's hands, examining it closely.

Curiously he bit off a small piece into his mouth but the moment his taste buds registered the feeling, he was ready to puke it out. He was almost convinced the elder had plucked it off from a cactus and wrapped it with snake skin.

"I wouldn't do that. Not after the trouble I went through just to acquire that shrub." The sanin's words were tender and expression was unchanged yet a subtle aura behind him was so intimidating that Kabuto slowly sucked a breath and swallowed. He noticed the other still standing and watching him patiently in expectation to finish the entire thing. With another gulp, the teen hesitantly brought the leafy substance back to his lips. While he was finishing up, he had his thumb and index fingers glued to his lips incase some of the stuff did decide to leak out. ' _It's not poison right..?'_

"What a good boy." Orochimaru nonchalantly grinned at him. Proudly, he smeared the younger's lips one last time with his thumb before leaving the room.

' _There he goes again with his weird way of showing care.'_ Albeit, the thought did bring an amused smile on his lips despite the bitter taste in his mouth. This place was his now and Orochimaru was his ally or at least someone who wouldn't trash him away so easily (he hoped). The feeling wasn't bad. At that moment the teen was determined to never shatter again and prove himself worthy to Orochimaru-sama.

 **End of Flashback.**

' _Except, all he ever did was experimental work. He never really had the chance to personally take care of the other and comply to his individual demands. It's not like Orochimaru-sama ever caught a cold.'_ Kabuto, still sitting on the stool in the quiet room, wondered. However, this time around was different. Orochimaru may not have been sick but the fact that he was stripped from his powers and both his mental and physical conditions were deteriorating wasn't anything different than being ill. Kabuto finally had the chance to show Orochimaru how much he cared and how adept he was. He wasn't going to fail him just like he never failed to create the right potion…so where is he now?

The silverette glanced at the food that was completely cold by now. ' _Should I go look for him?'_ The moment he stood up from his chair, a shadow also appeared at the door. "Lord Orochimaru! Where have you been my lord?" Kabuto inquired immediately.

"Hm? Somewhere indeed." The sanin wasn't too interested in going over all the details. ' _It's okay._ ' Kabuto told himself. Orochimaru-sama wasn't like himself these days, and that's fine because he would soon find a cure for him no matter what.

"No…you missed your medicine time." The teen pushed up his glasses bringing about a blinding shine in them until he noticed blotches of blood on the bandages of Orochimaru's arms as they fell loose. The younger gasped. "Lord Orochimaru your bandages—! Please let me mend them at once." He urged, dashing to Orochimaru's side and waiting for a sign of approval before he wanted to drag the other to the bed. The elder didn't show any resistance and thus that gave Kabuto the permission to gently hold the other's wrist and lead him to the bed. As the elder relaxed on to the bed, leaning against the bed head, the silverette passed him a short sleeved mahagony shirt from the drawer to change into while he gathered his medical supplies. Pulling the stool closer to the bed, he extended one of Orochimaru's arms and unwrapped the old dressing.

"Please take me with you next time." At least that finally brought about a scoff from the elder, tugging his lips upwards.

"We'll see about that." Orochimaru aloofly answered. In the meantime, Kabuto scrumptiously plastered the bandages and sealed them close.

"You should really rest now. I'll reheat the food before you can take your medicine." The teen stood up, motioning towards the tray until a hand held him back.

"It's fine. Hand it over." The younger stared at him blankly for two seconds before obliging. Orochimaru was quite sensitive to cool temperatures so he would always have his food reheated but now… ' _He must really be feeling perturbed.'_

"Orochimaru-sama, I'll be right back. Please don't go anywhere this time." Kabuto claimed as he dashed away into the halls.

…

' _Okay, this is where I bring in the cake. Uh…it kind of feels awkward, too bad the others couldn't tune in on this. But then again, I'm grateful it's just the two of us.'_ The silverette uncovered a round lid from the cake to make sure it was still there and unscathed. ' _Good_.' He put the cover back and hoisted it up, bringing it back to the room. Luckly, Orochimaru was still there, half finished with his meal and already swallowing his medicine. Kabuto wordlessly placed the cake on to the side table and took the tray from the other's lap, before sitting back on the stool. As he shoved the tray on to the floor somewhere away, he turned back to the Sanin.

"What's with you?" Orochimaru snapped his attention with that question.

"I'm sorry…?"

"I'm asking why you're so stiff. Hmp, did we run into some trouble?" The raven haired brought back his infamous smirk.

Kabuto was mesmerized by that expression, Orochimaru rarely ever 'smiled' anymore, so it was really nice and nostalgic to see him do so again. "Mh, nothing of that sort." The teen fixed his glasses for a change. "I just…" Terrific, he was at a loss of words already. He realized as the years went on, so did the difficulty level of simply coming out and saying ' _Happy Birthday!_ ' "My lord, I'm here to serve you. I'll always be by your side and I swear on my life I'll find a cure for you…so in exchange I want you to have faith in me too."

Orochimaru didn't follow where this abruptly came from. "…I have no doubts…"

"Then—please stop looking around and…stay here." The last part was more of a murmur but Kabuto didn't care as he flexed his body to gather the cake. "I believe you may have forgotten but today is a special day, one which I was hoping to celebrate with you." He noticed the elder raise a brow as he held the metallic dome in his lap. "Orochimaru-sama," The younger removed the lid. " I want to wish you a healthy and happy birthday." He spoke sincerely, with a gentle touch to every word.

Seconds passed into minutes before Orochimaru collected his thoughts into a phrase. "My, my, what do we have here? Is this what you've been up to—and here I thought you were working tirelessly on my remedy." Yes, it was so like him to taunt first then thank.

"Forgive me, I consider this a special occasion too."

"So loyal." The ravenette smirked again.

"I take that as a compliment."

"Of course. Well, then bring it here." Orochimaru ordered. Kabuto immediately lifted himself off the seat and placed the cake over the other's blanket.

"I'm sorry we don't have any candles."

"This is just fine." The sanin was beginning to enjoy this as he fetched a shuriken and sliced a neat triangle. Dicing that traingalur into a further half, Orochimaru picked it up with his shuriken and dumped it into his mouth. "Sweet as always. And _only_ sweet."

"That's called cake."

"Your turn to have the rest of this _cake_." The elder elevated the remaining piece of that slice and forced Kabuto—who was still standing over him— to bite the whole thing, much to his discomfort.

"…mn, it's good my lord." He timidly remarked, while wiping a bit of cream off from the side of his lips. Orochimaru chuckled and willingly stretched his neck to have his long tongue wipe off the remaining, startling the teen in the process.

"I owe all credits to you." The sanin said with his hand on one of the younger's jawline from the time he was cleaning the cake. "I was right to take you in that time. Never have I mistrusted you even once and you've shown nothing but competence. Good boy." That last part was all Kabuto needed to hear and it made his heart sank.

"Oro-orochimaru-sama…"

"I'm grateful for the celebration child." Orochimaru admitted, indeed feeling refreshed from the turmoil he had recently been caught in.

Kabuto smiled, a humble serene smile as his eyes could be seen through the glasses. "That's all I wanted to hear. I'm glad."

…

"By the way, you don't possibly expect me to eat all this, correct?" Orochimaru inquired.

"Uh…I guess, but I'm afraid I cannot eat that level of sugar either…" Kabuto confessed, pushing his glasses up.

"Just leave it in some room for the others for when they get back. They'll happily ingest it." The other nodded in agreement.

 _ **-:][THE END][:-**_

Aw man, I'm so glad that's out there. It's not the longest of the one shots I wanted it to be but meh, can't be helped—schedule is crazy. But because I'm so obsessed with this character just knowing it's his birthday makes my day brighter ^^

Anyhow, hope you guys enjoyed it, now I'm going to go and draw something for him. Peace.

~ZerocoolDemon


End file.
